Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,560,000 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the January 15th total of 5,730,000 shares. Approximately 7.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 923,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ traded up $1.26 on Friday, reaching $55.23. The company had a trading volume of 730,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,253. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.46.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $555,393,000 after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,045,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,294,000 after buying an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.